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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2021
West Africa is a space of paradoxes. Not even the most traditional Sufis can resist information and communication technologies (ICT). Nowadays they carry the tasbīḥ (prayer beads) in one hand and, in the other, a mobile phone or an iPad of the latest generation, to help them transmit ancient knowledge. From this it seems that sacred knowledge (ma‘rifa) and technology are compatible since they make life easier for the Muslim community, as Ibrahim Niasse (1900–75) already pointed out in the 1950s.
Shaykh Ibrahim has been a well-authorized voice. He himself founded the Fayḍa community in 1929, reviving Tijānī Sufism in West Africa, and adapting it to current times, while maintaining a great respect for the traditional episteme. Niasse not only lived during the beginnings of the technological revolution, but he also authorized the use of microphones, speakers, and recordings for the purpose of helping Muslims in their dīn. He was also a strong advocate of contemporaneity, which did not prevent him from being one of the greatest mystics of the twentieth century, and keeping Sufism in balance with Islamic law (sharī‘a).
His children and grandchildren have followed this same path. Today, it is not uncommon to see his grandson Shaykh Mahi Cisse [figure 8.1] in Medina Baye – the spiritual city founded by Shaykh Ibrahim in Senegal – using several mobile phones to answer questions from his disciples based in Singapore or in the United States through WhatsApp or Facebook. A Malaysian disciple told me once in Medina Baye:
Shaykh Mahi never leaves his phones. You know that you can always call him to ask any question, especially concerning matters of ma‘rifa (gnosis). When I call him and he cannot not answer my call immediately, he returns me call later. He does never neglect us; he is always with us. His voice always cheers you up, it is full of baraka.
This testimony is illustrative of many things. The interviewee not only expresses how a Sufi master uses technology, but at the same time he emphasizes the transmission of baraka (subtle and beneficial energy) through the voice of the shaykh. Traditionally, the baraka was obtained in the presence of shaykhs and holy people, but today, as the testimony of this informant suggests, it can be conveyed through a telephone conversation. The physical presence of yesteryear is replaced by today's digital presence.
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